Doorlock for motorcars



Oct. 27, 1959- E. L. MASUR- DOORLOCK FOR MOTORCARS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Dec. 5, 1956 INVENTOR E/Ibser L. Masur BY mm M WM A TTOR NE Y5Oct. 27, 1959 in. MASUR 2,910,318

DQORLOCK FOR MOTORCARS Filed Dec. 5, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 E. INVENTOR Elleser L. Masar- BY M ATTORNEYS United States Patent DOORLOCK FORMOTORCARS Elieser L. Masur, Tel-Aviv, Israel Application December 5,1956, Serial No. 626,395 Claims priority, application Israel December27, 1955 4 Claims. (Cl. 292-401) Door latching means for motorcars aregenerally so constructed as to split the process of door closing intotwo subsequent stages: the first or safety position of shutting the dooris reached by light pressure on the door from outside or by a light pullfrom inside, so that the latch bolt (or other movable locking part) isloosely held by the keeper (or other corresponding part fixed at thedoor-pillar) and the door can not reopen without the release mechanismof the lock being operated; the second or full latched position ofclosing, is obtained only by exertion of more pressure on the door, orby a greater impact of the moving door itself, so that the bolt or otherlocking part snaps into its final position at the door post.

It happens frequently that passengers or drivers of motorcars shutdoors, from outside or inside the car, by exerting so little pressure onthe door, that only the safety position of closing is achieved, with theresuit that one or more doors are not properly locked, when the driverstarts to move the car. Such a door has in most cases to be reopened inorder to be properly shut, which is dangerous, when the car is alreadyin motion; if the driver is alone in the car, he has to stop the vehicleonce more in order to shut the rear or farside door, as it is difiicultto do so and to control the moving car simultaneously. Untimely openingof cardoors, while the vehicle is in motion or temporarily held up bytraflic lights or obstacles, is another source of danger widely known.Whenever doors are opened on the tralficside, instead of on thecurbside, or are opened prematurely, before the car has come to astandstill or when the car is temporarily held up and has to proceed onits way immediately, the danger to the safety of passengers, passers-byand vehicles is obvious.

The present invention aims at enabling the driver to perform the finalshutting of one or more doors without having to reopen them; further tokeep all doors locked, as long as he desires so, and finally to do so bymeans of a central control without interfering with any other operationnecessary for the control of the car.

The invention refers to all recent constructions of doorlocks, in whichthe conventional bolt in the door and the keeper at the door-pillar havebeen replaced by other parts, as e.g. a rotating cogwheel at the doormating with a tooth-rack at the door-post, or a rotating fork at thedoor mating, with a pin fixed at the post, or a pin at the door, whichrises in two stages and mates with a fork-shaped guide at the post, orother similar devices.

All these constructions have the common feature, that- ICC into the fulllatched position by means of a mechanical device like a push-rod orfinger which pushes an extension of the bolt arranged on the inside ofthe door. Furthermore the application of this force is used for keepingthe door latching means in the fully latched position so that themechanism or the device as described by the invention overridestemporarily the regular release mechanism. The extension to which thesaid force is applied, can be shaped in different ways and incorrespondence to the various types of door latching devices knownhitherto. Several such variations will be described below, by way ofexample only, which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings,wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view on the inside of the door with themechanism shown diagrammatically only.

Fig. 2 is a view on the outer part of the same type of door latchingmeans with the covering plate being removed.

Fig. 3 is a modification of the invention applied to the same type ofdoor latching means showing diagrammatically the inside of the door.

Fig. 4 shows in'perspective another modification of the inside of thedoor latching means, and

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section through part of the device according toFig. 4.

Turning first to Fig. 2 the outside of this type of a door latchingmeans mainly consists, as known per se, of a rotating cogwheel 1 whichserves as a pivoted bolt, mating with a tooth-rack 2 serving as a keepermounted on the door. The circumference of cogwheel 1 is divided into sixteeth and is keyed on an axle which penetrates into the inside of thedoor, hearing at its inner end a pivot 33. At the inner side aconventional ratchet wheel 4 equally divided at its circumference intosix teeth, which are however of a shape different of these of cogwheel1, is keyed on the common axle, so that cogwheels 1 and 4 can not changetheir position in relation to each other. Ratchet wheel 4 is adapted torotate in the direction of the arrow A. When wheels 1 and 4 have movedthrough an angle of 60 a pawl 6 will snap into position behind the nexttooth of wheel 4, preventing the back movement of ratchet wheel 4 andbolt 1. In that position bolt 1 has entered the first tooth of keeper 2,Le. the safety stage of the door closing has been reached. Whenever theimpact of the closing is not sufficient to move the cogwheels throughanother angle of 60, the full latch position of the door, that means theentering of bolt 1 into the second deepening of rack 2, is achieved bythe device according to the invention. To that end a further (third)cogwheel 7 is keyed on the common axle of cogwheels 1 and 4 at theinside of the door or made as an integral part with wheel 4. A boltactuating member in the form of a slotted pushrod 8 ending at one sidein an actuating finger 9 is arranged on a bracket 10 mounted on theinside of the door. It is held to this bracket by means of a guiding pin11, so that it can move towards the cogwheel '7 and back within theplane of the Wheel rotation, and is held within this plane by the samepin 11, which extends at its head over both. lateral sides of the slot.The pushrod 8 is at its other end fixed to a piston 12, which will bedescribed below. The actuating finger 9 can move in the direction of thearrow B and/ or around a fulcrum 13 and is held in or brought back toits rest-position by a leaf spring 14. The movement of the pushrod 8 andactuating finger 9 is brought about by hydraulic power. For that purposea hydraulic cylinder 16 of the well known type of a wheel cylinder inhydraulic brake system, is used. The cylinder contains piston 12connected at its outer extension to the pushrod 8, a retracting spring15, a rubber piston 17, an inlet opening 18 for the drive liquid with aleak proof connection to a pipe (not shown) which is directly orindirectly connected to the foot pedal at the drivers left foot. Afurther weaker spring 19 is inserted in cylinder 16 between said inlet18 and rubber piston 17 and secures the latter to remain in constantcontact with piston 12.

The action of the device according to Fig. 1 is as follows: When thedoor latching means is in the safety position and a force acts on thepushrod 8 in the direction towards the cogwheel 7, the actuating fingerwill move the cogwheel 7 in the direction of the arrow A through atleast 60 degrees, until the pawl 6 snaps into position behind the nexttooth of the ratchet wheel 4 and the proper locking of the door has beenobtained by rotating bolt 1 and moving the door into the full latchedposition. When the door is properly locked and a force acts on thepushrod 3 in the direction towards the cogwheel 7, the actuating fingerwill be pressed against one tooth of the cogwheel 7, in this case thecogwheel 7 can not be moved in the direction of the arrow A and can notmove in the reverse sense either, as long as the force on the pushrod ismaintained, even if the regular release mechanism lifts the pawl 6 outof its position behind a tooth of the ratchet wheel 4, ie in case of anattempt at opening the door. When the force ceases to act on the pushrod8, the pushrod is drawn back into its rest-position by means of theretracting spring 15. If the device has been used for moving the deviceto the full latched position and the actuating finger is in the position9a, the finger will, when retracted, move in the direction of .the arrowB around its fulcrum 13 against the pressure of the leaf spring 14 andsnap over one tooth of cogwheel 7. The actuating finger 9 in its restposition does not impede the free movement of the cogwheel 7.

In the modification shown in Fig. 3 the conventional door latching meansis the same as that described in Fig. l, viz. it bears at the inside aratchet wheel 4' which can be engaged by a pawl 6. Instead of keying onit a further cogwheel 7, as in the first modification, pins 7' areprovided near the edges of the teeth of the ratchet wheel which pinsproject in the direction of the inside of the door. The pushrod 8'adapted to slide over a bracket 10 with guide pin 11 is connected to anactuating finger 9 which has at its end a rather large and straightrecess 29, adapted to receive between its prongs and 31 one of the pins7 of the ratchet wheel 4'. The dimension of the recess 29 is necessaryto give room for the movement of pin 7 during its travel on a circularpath. Thus, if the device has reached only the safety position, pushrod8 when moved will cause the actuating finger 9" to perform a movement asindicated by dotted lines. It comes then in contact with the nearest pin7 and pushes the ratchet wheel 4 through an angle of 60 into the fulllatched position. The return of the finger 9" is brought about by thesame means as described before with reference to Fig. l.

The modifications shown in Figs. 4 and 5 refer to another type of doorlatching means, which is also known in the art. In that door latchingmeans a plate 20 which serves as a latch bolt is riveted or otherwiseconnected to a fork on the outside of the door on a common axle 21. Thebolt 20 has at the end opposite to the axle 21- two teeth-likeprojections 22 and 22a, cooperating with a keeper 23, which snaps intoposition behind the flank faces of the two teeth 22 and 22arespectively, one after the other, corresponding to the two positions asdescribed above. According to the invention a pin 24 protrudes from bolt20 in the circuit of the second tooth 22a. The pushrod 25, which canmove in the direction of the arrow C and back on a bracket 26, wherebyit is guided by a slot 27 and a pin 28, has at its front edge a recess29', so as to receive pin 24 between its prongs 30' and 31'. The rearedge of the pushrod 25 is connected to the hydraulic piston as describedregarding the other modi fications. If therefore keeper 23 has onlyreached the recess between teeth 22 and 22a, the pushrod on beingactuated by the driver through the hydraulic system, pushes pins 24 bymeans of its front edge into the position shown in dotted lines in thefigure, and will hold it there, that means the full latched position, aslong as the pressure on the system is applied. To reduce frictionbetween pin 24 and the fork-like front edge 30', 31' of pushrod 25, asleeve (not shown) can be slipped over the pin 24.

The force applied to the pushrod in any of the modifications describedcan be provided by electro-magnetic devices, vacuum powered systems,electrically actuated hydraulic systems or otherwise.

What I claim is:

1. In combination, a bolt member movable around an axis, a keeper memberengageable with said bolt member, said members being engageable witheach other for holding the door in either a safety position or a fullylatched position, one of said members being on a door and the other ofsaid members being on a jamb adjacent said one member, a bolt actuatingmember mounted for movement toward and away from said bolt member forengagement with said bolt member for pivoting said bolt member, and acentrally controlled power means connected to said bolt actuating memberfor moving said bolt actuating member, whereby said bolt actuatingmember may contact said bolt member and pivot it to move the door from asafety to a fully latched position.

2. In combination, a bolt member movable around an axis and having aplurality of teeth thereon, a keeper member engageable with said boltmember, said members being engageable with each other for holding thedoor in either a safety position or a fully latched position, one ofsaid members being on a door and t e other of said members being on ajamb adjacent said one member, a bolt actuating member slidably mountedfor movement toward and away from the teeth on said bolt member forengagement with said teeth on said bolt member for pivoting said boltmember, and a centrally controlled power means connected to said boltactuating member for moving said bolt actuating member, whereby saidbolt actuating member may contact said bolt member and pivot it to movethe door from a safety to a fully latched position.

3. The combination as claimed in claim 2 in which said bolt membercomprises a cogwheel, and said bolt actuating member comprises a bentover finger and a slid-- able push rod bearing against said bent overfinger and to which said centrally controlled power means is attached.

4. The combination as claimed in claim 2 in whichv said bolt membercomprises a ratchet wheel having pins protruding from the individualteeth thereof, and said bolt actuating member comprises a slidablepushrod having one end forked, the forked end being adjacent saidratchet wheel, the said centrally controlled power means being connectedto the other end of said push rod.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSSchulenberg June 22, 1954

